APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday February 5, 2018
 

Quotes of the day:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
Police recommended charging Israel's Labor Minister Haim Katz (Likud) with breach of trust and fraud, another Israeli security source warned government ministers that Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse, which could lead to a conflict with Israel, but this time the warning came from the Chief of Staff himself, as Hamas prepared for that conflict and the US envoy to the Middle East blamed Hamas for the Strip’s crisis, Israeli government ministers approved legalizing the Havat Gilad settlement outpost in response to the murder of a settler there and Israel started issuing deportation notices to African asylum seekers making top news in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot told the Israeli cabinet that a war could result from the dire humanitarian and economic state of the Gaza Strip, which will only be worsened by the cutting of funding to UNRWA by the Trump administration. “The more the situation deteriorates, Israel Defense Force officials said, the more Gazan protesters will demonstrate at the border fence with Israel. The number of demonstrators has already increased in recent weeks, and Israeli army sources expressed concern that an incident along the fence could spark an escalation,” Haaretz+ wrote. Al Hayat newspaper reported Sunday that Hamas sees a ’95 percent' chance of confrontation with Israel, believing that Israel will use a training exercise planned on the southern front to open a military operation against Hamas. The report further said Hamas’ military wing has begun evacuating sites. It is unlikely that Hamas would launch a confrontation, political and human rights activists told Haaretz. Meanwhile, Israel intercepted materials used in the making of explosive devices and rockets at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Oddly, Eisenkot did not blame Hamas for the situation, but neither did the papers explain what are the causes for the unemployment, the polluted water, etc and whether it was something that Israel had power over. However, US President Donald Trump's Mideast Envoy Jason Greenblatt did. He said it was Hamas who was to blame because it was getting $100 million from Iran and using it for military purposes, such as tunnels and weapons.

Yedioth and Israel Hayom played down the Gaza crisis and instead focused on another statement Eisenkot made in his briefing to ministers, that women won’t serve on the combat frontlines while he's IDF chief.

Israel issued the first round of deportation notices to asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea, who had lined up at the Populations Authority office to renew their permits and make asylum requests. The letter giving them 60 days notice described the unnamed African country they will be deported to as having a 'flourishing tourism industry' and 'stability in its regime' and it detailed what would happen if they didn’t leave Israel. Journalist Oren Ziv of ActiveStills shared on +972mag a report from the Populations Authority building titled, “They told me to go to a third country. I won't go. I'll go to jail.” Yedioth also had a large report interviewing a man who said, “I prefer to go to jail than to return to Rwanda.”

Meanwhile, Yedioth and Haaretz noted that while Israel sought to deport thousands of Africans, the government approved importing 6,000 foreign workers for the construction industry. And despite the outcry by many Israelis over the expulsion plan, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused Jewish billionaire and philanthropist George Soros of funding a campaign against the expulsion. Soros said that was a ‘false claim,’ but that it's 'wrong' to send migrants to countries 'where they might be persecuted or killed.’ Yesterday, Yedioth reported that in a letter to Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, 25 of Israel's preeminent experts on international law wrote that the expulsion policy was illegal.

In response to the murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, Israel’s cabinet approved legalizing the 50-family Havat Gilad outpost, where he lived. Haaretz reported that the cabinet also agreed to relocate it. Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman said, “There is no intention to expand and to annex privately-owned Palestinian lands but only to legalize the existing settlement after the murder [of Rabbi Shevach] and to connect it to water and electricity as well as make it accessible for humanitarian reasons.” But Peace Now told Haaretz: “Legalizing Havat Gilad is a new height of groveling before settlers. By legalizing Havat Gilad, an isolated outpost deep within the West Bank, the government is harming the chance for two states and rewarding land-stealing felons." Peace Now told Israel Hayom: This a "cynical exploitation of the murder." MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) said it amounts to "the government's surrender to the minority, which along the way also sent a message that it's profitable to break Israeli law." Palestinian officials condemned the move and said it seems to be the result of the change in U.S. policy in favor of Israel.
 

Quick Hits:

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Features:

*School Could Be Out Forever for These Bedouin Kids in the West Bank
Israel wants to demolish the school in Al Muntar, with alternatives located too far away for the children to attend. Residents believe they face expulsion because of expansion plans for an adjacent settlement. (Amira Hass, Haaretz+)
Paratroopers prepare for full self-reliance in Lebanon war scenario
Amid the rugged Mt. Carmel forests, troops learn to make use of food, fuel, medical supplies from Lebanese population, fix weapons mid-battle; Fact that Hezbollah is now a more professional, conventional, highly trained army, not militia, seen as advantage for IDF. (Yoav Zitun, Ynet)
Empowering what is missing: when the mother of Gil-Ad met the children named after him
22 families in Israel and abroad chose to name their children after Gil She’er, one of the three boys (sic - youth) who were kidnapped and murdered in June 2014. Last Friday they came to an unusual planting ceremony in Gush Etzion initiated by his mother. (Karni Eldad, Maariv Magazine supplement, cover)
Brainwashing and Cross-dressing: Israel's Assassination Program Laid Bare in Shocking Detail
Ronen Bergman’s riveting history of Israel’s use of targeted killings in his book, “Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations,” reveals for the first time many operations carried out in the name of national security. Some may inspire the reader while others will sicken. (David B. Green, Haaretz+)
The only Jew to survive the 1941 Odessa massacre
Mishka Zaslavsky, 93, will never forget the massacre in Odessa, when 22,000 Jews were burned alive; 'I've been told it's not nice to say I shoved people, but that's what happened,' recounts the only survivor to escape the inferno, while his mother and siblings were murdered; but he doesn't regret staying in Ukraine; 'If I go, who will protect my family's bones?'  (Yifat Erlich, Yedioth/Ynet)

Commentary/Analysis:
Why Israeli Fighter Jets Aren’t Enough to Solve Egypt's ISIS Problem (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) While ISIS has lost nearly all the territory it held in Iraq and Syria, the group’s much smaller affiliate in Sinai is still going strong — despite Israeli airstrikes.
Without a change in the assessments and without the will of the parties: Thus, an escalation is created in the south through words (Tal Lev Ram, Maariv) Despite the rocket fire at the end of the week and the economic situation in the Gaza Strip, which continues to deteriorate rapidly, the security establishment has no new intelligence information indicating Hamas' intentions to launch an initiated campaign…In the current situation, carelessness on both sides could lead to an escalation, even if neither side has the will to start a war at this time. Despite the escalating trend, Israel and its enemies still have a great deal of maneuvering space and flexibility to avoid war. At this point in time, a confrontation in Gaza is not a a fated decree. The way to prevent it is mainly by increasing international involvement in rebuilding the Gaza Strip, which is sinking into a humanitarian disaster that does not serve Israel.
How Lebanon sees Israel’s war threats (Smadar Perry, Yedioth/Ynet) Over the years, we have gotten used to seeing Lebanon as a war games field; no one asks for permission to fly IAF planes and UAVs on their way to hit Syrian targets, according to foreign reports. Suddenly, Lebanon is acquiring the status of a responsible sovereign state, and the Lebanese are flexing their muscles before signing oil-drilling contracts in disputed territory.
Poland: Nation of Righteous Gentiles? (Holocaust historian, Yehuda Bauer, Haaretz+) Where are the scholars and academics who could weigh in expertly on the recent 'Polish death camps' bill?
Blaming Poland for the Holocaust Is Unjustified (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) There is one crucial difference between Poland and the other nations of Europe that came under German occupation.
Poland's new Holocaust bill: Why doesn't Israel hold a March of the Living in Berlin? (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) Instead of threatening the cancellation of trips to Poland, Israel should see it as an appropriate opportunity to end them and to open a new page in its attitude toward the memory of the Holocaust.
Mind the pillars democracy rests on (Dr. Haim Shine, Israel Hayom) Judges who help themselves to too much power without legal justification have no right to criticize others for attacking democracy.
Why are we Israelis so cruel to so many? (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) With the African refugees, just as with the Palestinians, we are doing the opposite of 'what is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.'
Migrants' lives are not at risk (Eldad Beck, Israel Hayom) There is no obligation to provide illegal migrants with a life of convenience, the likes of which they have grown accustomed to in certain Western states.
Fight for Ashdod (Haaretz Editorial) The Minimarkets Law changes the status quo and gives enormous power to minority groups- who happen to hold more power in the Knesset.
Kerry's delusions (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Jordan and Egypt view peace with Israel through a utilitarian lens. Contrary to the former U.S. secretary of state's wishful thinking, they will never come to Israel's defense.
Haim Gouri, a fighter in the ranks of Hebrew poetry (Eli Eliyahu, Haaretz+) The late and legendary poet was turned into an ethos but he was not a man of ethos himself- he was a poet of compassion, a rare commodity in an age lacking compassion.

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.